Page:Heavens!.djvu/16

viii the heart. Both the Baroness Poc̓ernická and Jenny of this story belong to the last-named species. A good contrast of both kinds is formed by the representatives of the serving-class in this novel—the good-natured old Naninka, and the sharp spinster Regina; and similar characters occur also in Šmilovský’s other works.

His style is simple, and clear, and highly polished, and yet not overdone. He prefers short sentences to long elaborate periods, and spares no trouble in keeping to the genuine idiom of the Bohemian language, the purity of which is chiefly felt on making an attempt to translate it into another tongue. Many of his racy modes of expression are taken from the unalloyed idiom of national proverbs and sayings, and it is often difficult, and indeed almost impossible, to find their exact equivalents in any other language.

Šmilovský’s novels are firmly established in the hearts of his countrymen. May this specimen of them gain the approval of English readers too, and may this first attempt at translating a Bohemian work of fiction into English meet with a friendly reception, and pave the way for many of its successors.